I so agree with every point that you made! I was extremely tired when I was writing my own post, so I didn't get to fully articulate my thoughts!
16 hours ago, amensisterfriend said:
I think she throws her heart and soul into pretty much everything, which goes a long way towards explaining why I've come to love her so much. She's got a lot of spirit, energy and heart. I love that same passionate intensity about Prue and even Phoebe as well, but Paige throws herself into things with a little more joy than Prue and tends to be less focused on her personal needs and goals than Phoebe. I agree that she felt like helping people both supernaturally and otherwise was her true calling, and I love how she often viewed it as more of a pleasure and privilege than just an obligation. I love how she independently researched and practiced witchcraft---I, too, would take a certain geeky pleasure in knowing as much as possible :)
This part, in particular, is just so well worded and expresses every feeling I have about our little firecracker here. She was absolutely fine with being a witch. She quit her job to become a full-time witch, after all. Maybe a little selfish there because she lost all income she was bringing in to the household, but she was doing it for noble reasons. I think that was where Prue was heading before she died. I do think her having her photography would have allowed Prue to be able to also be an almost full time witch on the side, so she could balance both.
Ok, so there are many, many Paige-centric episodes which are my favourite. Even episodes where she may not be the focus, but it impacted her as a character.
A Paige From The Past is one I will always cherish. Between that one and A Knight to Remember, I will always choose the former. It just really dives into Paige as a character and we don't get enough of those moments, especially when it comes to her past. It's also why I love Sam, I Am. I actually used to dislike that episode because I was never a fan of Sam. But rewatching it? It's actually really good and Paige gets to deal with her biological father. Centennial Charmed is also an interesting one because although it deals primarily with Cole and his obsession with Phoebe, it's Paige who has to remember the alternate universe, not her sisters. She basically dealt with it herself and she did a good job in bringing her alternate universe sisters together to defeat Cole once and for all.
Also, Baby's First Demon is an odd favourite, but I love Paige's overprotectiveness over baby Wyatt. It differs from Phoebe's overprotectiveness, because Paige uses magical means to save him from demons, which is why his middle name being Paige's adoptive last name is so significant and it makes me see why she is so important to the series. And Sympathy for the Demon isn't exactly Paige centric, but it has excellent Paige moments.
Love's a Witch is one that I can watch more than once. It's not amazing in any means, but Paige gets some excellent moments by not actually killing Richard's ghost fiancee, and she finds a way to save her instead. Season 6, as much as I love it, doesn't have a lot of good Paige-centric episodes. Not even Wrong Day's Journey was particularly great for me, but it was nice to see Paige conjour her own Mr. Right, one of the less common times she uses magic for pure personal gain and nothing else. Charmed Noir is one that I haven't seen in a very long time, but one I remember enjoying. The very few that I like in season 7, I guess. Payback's a Witch is amazing, amazing, amazing. I can not praise that episode enough. Any episode with Henry/Paige is good, though....ok, that's a lie. Any subplot involving Henry/Paige is good for me.
Other storylines of Paige's that I liked? I love that she took over the 'Cole is shady as hell and I don't trust him' mantle from Prue. It helps that she has fresh eyes on the situation, but she was always the sister in season 4 most wary of Cole and his intentions toward Phoebe. Piper flip flopped but was mostly on Team Cole, and Leo didn't get much of a say in any of it before he became 'bros' with Cole. Paige was always wary about Cole, but she at least tried to give him a chance. I also liked her going through temp jobs. That arc of season 6 was kind of fun to watch, and I enjoyed some of her jobs. I just think it had more potential to be greater than it already was.
There are some storylines I wish Paige got more of. One of them was her developing her Whitelighter side more. I wanted to see her have more charges, rather than the one every season. She was a witch first, of course, but they never developed her Whitelighter side besides being able to orb and telekinetic orb. I know that's kind of where she got her caring for other people side from, but I wish it became more prominent in her life. Imagine if she had a better charge for a witch in season 8 (was Billie even her actual charge?), and that could have been a good recurring arc for Paige.
I also wish we had an episode where she met Prue. I was always curious about how that relationship would have worked out, and I do think they could have actually been quite close as sisters. I just feel like the show messed up, particularly Brad Kern, when he assumed that Prue could be forgotten about. All because he didn't want to spend the money to use her picture, even. Would it have been a lot of money? Probably. But why be so selfish and not give the fans what they want, especially after eight years of loyalty? Why not take the chance and ask Shannen if she'd like to make a cameo instead of assuming she wouldn't want to? They could have had Shannen only interact with Rose. I know they were in a movie together before Charmed, so I don't think they would have had a problem together. I love this show, I do, but I sometimes sit down and wonder why when they made so many mistakes.
I also wish we got introduced to Henry earlier. Maybe season 7 could have been different if they made different choices. They gave Phoebe and Piper so much of the heavy arcs that Paige often got stuck with the lesser ones. Paige usually got the two episode arcs, which sucked. They did try at the beginning, but I feel like they stopped caring at some point. Paige's relationship with Richard and her temp jobs had so much potential. Paige becoming a teacher at Magic School had more potential. Hell, even Paige and Kyle could have been better than it was. Paige/Henry was so good and it satisfied me with the knowledge that it was the final season, but imagine if we had two full seasons of them. The first season would have been their relationship leading up to the marriage, and the final season would have been Paige as a married woman, with responsibilities, without her carefree nature. Hell, maybe we would have seen her get pregnant and seen some of that being explored. Maybe Paige as a married woman would have had more struggles between the charges she was being given and being with her husband. Maybe that would have led Phoebe into a different, non-romantic storyline as she became a mentor to Billie (or another young witch).
I guess that's all I really have at the moment, although I definitely have more to say about Paige. But again, I'll leave it at that and see what you guys have to say.
Edited July 9, 2016 by Lady CalypsoncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNqamipZWptq6x0WeaqKVfqbyxtcJoaW1xZ2V6sa3IoJxmpZGpwamx1qxm